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Chester Tate
Chester Tate is a character on the soap opera comedy, Soap. He was played by soap opera veteran, Robert Mandan. Philandering Embezzler/Murderer Chester Tate is a person who is clearly NOT a honorable person, although he passes himself off as such. In fact, he is quite underhanded although he often claims he is sorry for his crimes. He claims he is mostly sorry and in a way he was sorry. Sorry that he was always CAUGHT! The pompous, selfish, unscrupulous (and exceedingly cowardly) Chester works in Wall Street as a stock broker, like his father had before him. He was married to the sweet-natured, but very sheltered and daffy, Jessica Gatling. With her, they have three children. Eunice, Corrine and Billy. He is also a grandfather to Corrine's son, Timmy Flotsky. It was later revealed that Corrine was adopted by him and Jessica from her biological parents, Jessica's brother, Randolph and his paramour, Ingrid Svenson. All throughout his marriage to Jessica (even on their honeymoon and even before he said "I Do" to her), Chester had cheated on her, with every woman he could see. According to everyone, including the insolent cook/butler, Benson, who despised him, "The man jumps on anything with a pulse!" So despised is he that even the servants in his home do not like him. He often would yell, "SHUT UP, BENSON" whenever Benson got on his nerves. Benson's replacement, Saunders, had no liking for him either, and would disrespect him as frequently as the former did. His secretary/mistress, Claire, demanded him constantly to leave Jessica for her. However, he would not, fearing that he would not be able to have his cake and eat it too! For despite his constant philandering, he did love Jessica. When he fired Claire (who threw a temper tantrum and destroyed their lunch setting), she called the Securities and Exchange Commission on him and reported him on stock fraud charges. Meanwhile, he would find himself in very hot water with Jessica, after she caught him in a restaurant with said Claire and saw him necking with her. This finally made Jessica see how much of a philanderer he really was. However, as much as he loved Jessica, he didn't love her enough not to frame her for murder! He had killed his nephew by marriage, Peter Campbell, after he discovered that he had been sleeping with Jessica AND Corrine. For his crime, as well as for embezzlement, he was sent to prison, where he met another person who would mess up his life, Dutch Leitner, who would later date and then marry Eunice. It was clear that he and Dutch disliked one another. Although, at first, Dutch was the instigator, he would become progressively dumber, while Chester could become more antagonistic. While he was trying to remain faithful to Jessica, he would still NOT give up being a cheater. He cheated on her with another secretary (when Jessica found out, she said coldly, "I'm glad you have this hotel room Chester, because you are NOT coming home!!!"), as well as the daughter of the Episcopal Priest who was helping him and Jessica with their marital issues. The affair with the minister's daughter was the last straw for Jessica. She angrily berated Chester for playing with her affections and cheating on her so mercilessly ("You cannot hurt, Chester Tate!" she yelled at him, "because you have no soul!") and then she threw him out of the main house. She did however agree to allow him to live in the pool house, earning his room and board by cleaning the pool! It was a dismal comedown for the high-and-mighty Chester Tate! While Jessica never remarried (she would have a relationship with a man named Carlos "El Puerco" Valdez), Chester did, to his daughter, Eunice's ex-friend, Annie. Despite their divorce and his remarriage to Annie (which angered Eunice), he wanted Jessica back, but she would not relent. She would not ever take him back. He also found out that he and his sister in-law, Mary Campbell had an affair, and was the father of her oldest son, Danny Dallas. The information was revealed when Danny was shot and Chester had to donate a kidney (though he did not want to do this). This revelation nearly sundered the relationship between his ex-wife, Jessica and her sister, Mary Campbell. It was also revealed that Mrs. Gatling, the mother of Jessica and Mary had ordered Chester to marry Jessica, as a condition for her not to turn his father in for embezzlement (as a stock broker, Chester's father had embezzled a lot of Mrs. Gatling's money). Had he not done so, Chester's father would have been sent to prison for his crimes. Which showed that he was a very sleazy individual, even before he had met and married Jessica. Jessica would later forgive Mary, but she never forgave Chester and told him to get out of her life forever! However, fatherly pride was shoved out of the window, when Chester caught Danny and Annie in bed. He wanted to kill them BOTH! However, it was never revealed if he did. It is presumed that Chester was left alone, as he deserved. Category:Fictional businesspeople Category:SOAP (TV series) characters